John, pt. 18 | John 4:1-15

John 4:1-15 and the Theme of Living Water

So if you would take your copy of the scriptures. Will be in John chapter 4 verses 1 through 15 John chapter 4 verses 1 through 15. That'll be in your pew Bibles. It'll be page 107, 1074, 1074. Let's pray.

Father, in Jesus name. Lord, we ask. Your blessings upon your word. Open our mind and open our heart to the truths. That you have for us to know Lord. Or I pray that you will use me this day. I pray that I've done my due diligence.

But even where I have felt or that you will speak forth your truth to your people. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. All right, so our theme for this Lord's Day is living water. Living water. And my proposition is this.

The living water that Jesus is offering is greater than the living water that's found in this chapter at Jacob's well. Now whatever this living water is that Jesus is speaking about. That it is something that we, you and I, cannot live without.

That those who, that those that do not have it do not realize their need for it. And that those who have it cannot live without it. Right, if there was just one second to where Jesus, where the Father would remove from us this living water.

We would die of thirst. We cannot live without it. And in our outline today we are confronted with four truths from this text. The humanity of Jesus. The outcast of Samaritans. The divinity of Jesus. And the need for humanity.

So point number one, the humanity of Jesus. Point number two, the outcast of Samaritans. Point number three, the divinity of Jesus. And point number four, the need of humanity. And as we transition so far in this gospel, we have seen the amazing truths concerning Jesus Christ.

That he is divine, that he was in the beginning, that he was with God, and that he was God. He is God. That there is nothing in God that Jesus is not. That Jesus in and of himself is God. This is the truth that we have uncovered, that John lays out for us.

And yet, Jesus is not the Father. Jesus is not the Holy Spirit. And the Father and the Holy Spirit are in and of themselves, too. The one true God, just as Jesus is, while there is only one God. This is what John is wanting to express to us.

He's wanting us to know, and to learn, and to rest in. Jesus, as the eternal divine Son of God, takes on flesh, and as God, lives a perfect life, fully obedient to the law of God, and yet, by the same law, was condemned as a criminal.

He was put to death, he was buried, and he rose again from the dead three days later. And in this message, that gospel, that portion where it talks about him dying for our sins, here we clearly see the humanity of Jesus.

How is it that God can die? Well, because God became a man. And as man, God died. And in our first point today, we're going to see another side of the humanity of Jesus. So, look with me for our first point, the humanity of Jesus.

The Humanity of Jesus: Weariness, Thirst, and Sympathetic Priesthood

We will read verses 1 through 8. The Gospel of John, chapter 4, verses 1 through 8. Therefore, when Jesus knew that the Pharisees have heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were, he left Judea and went away again into Galilee.

And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to the city of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. And Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, being weary from his journey, was sitting thus by the well.

It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. This text reveals three things about the humanity of Jesus that you and I deal with.

First one is, the son of God got tired, right? Who in here has not worked or walked somewhere and has not gotten tired, right? He got tired. He was weary. The son of God, thirst. Right now, as I speak, my mouth is starting to get cotton, right?

So I'm reaching down and I'm unscrewing the cap to get the water so I can drink here in a second, right? I'm happy to work that in there, right? We thirst. We, you know, we thirst. Third thing is that the son of God doesn't perform miracles to satisfy his own need.

We cannot perform miracles to satisfy our need. We see that the son of God, as a human being, does not perform miracles to satisfy his own need. When he does perform miracles, it's not for himself. He doesn't do these things for himself.

Why? Because you and I cannot perform these things for ourself. So this took place immediately after John and Jesus were in the same body of water baptizing. And as a matter of fact, it was because of the commotion raised by the Jews over the debate of purification and then trying to make John jealous that these Jews would go and report back to the Pharisees.

This is why Jesus left that body of water. It's not that he was afraid of the Pharisees, right? He's already had dealings with the Pharisees. But something about it caused him to leave. And his being tired had to do with him traveling from Judah to Galilee.

The text tells us that on his way to Galilee, he had to pass through Samaria. So if you look at a map, directly in front of Galilee is Samaria. The only way that you can go around Samaria is you have to cross over the River of Jordan twice.

So you have to take a long way around. A direct path through Galilee is Samaria. Now, this would have been many, many miles of walking. Jesus finds himself in the heat of the day. The text tells us it was about the sixth hour of the day.

This would have been 12 o 'clock noon, right? How many people in the summertime working? I can imagine me on a roof, 12 o 'clock noon. I'm dying, right? It's hot. Jesus is in a desert. It's 12 o 'clock noon.

He stops at the well of Jacob. And you can read the story about the well of Jacob in Genesis chapter 48. Jesus is tired, Jesus is thirsty, and he has no way to get water from the well. So he's sitting thus by the well.

And now I want to restate what I said earlier. These three things to notice about the humanity of Jesus. One, he's weary, meaning he's tired. Two, he's thirsty. And three, he has nothing to get the water with.

He didn't bring a bucket. He has nothing to get the water with. And at this time, speaking of his humanity, we see his humanity. At this time, the unbelief wasn't that God couldn't enter into creation, right?

The Jews know that he has in past times, through forms of angels, and through forms of fire, God has interacted with creation. It's not that he couldn't enter into time, that he couldn't enter into creation.

The hardest thing to understand for the people at this time was that they couldn't understand how God could take on flesh, how he can take on human, sinful flesh. This is the struggle that John deals with in this gospel and in his letters to the churches.

He argues the fact that God, the creator of all things, took on flesh. 1 John talks about, we seen him with our eyes, we looked upon him, meaning we saw him interacting, we spoke with him, we touched him.

The creator of all things, we touched him, we were able to touch him. And he mentions that if you deny that Jesus is the Christ, you are anti-Christ. If you deny that the Christ came into the flesh, you are anti-Christ.

So we have to have this knowledge as we're reading through this gospel, that that's what he's fighting for. He's fighting for the humanity of Jesus, and he shows us here that he was weary, that he was thirsty, and that he did not use his miracles to grant to himself water.

Look at Hebrews 4. We're going to kind of see why he acted in such ways. Verse 15 says this, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize, think about that, sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin.

Imagine Jesus thirsty at the water, he can make water pop out of the well, right? He's just speaking forth, water come, water will come. He sympathizes with our thirst, but also in our weaknesses, because we can't make water jump out the well.

Christ doesn't make the water jump out the well. He sympathizes with our weaknesses, and think about it, he had to be tempted too, right? Satan tempted him with bread when he was hungry, right? I mean, I think I would have had the temptation to be like, water come.

He could have done it, but he did not do so. Also, I want to notice Hebrews 2, verses 15, excuse me, 14 and 15. Hebrews 2, 14 and 15. Again, speaking of the humanity of Jesus, it says, therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself, speaking of Jesus, likewise also partook in the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power over death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subjected to slavery all their lives.

So this tells us that he had to take on flesh, and it tells you the purpose for doing so, and as you continue reading, that purpose would be to, in his death, burial, and resurrection, he destroys the power of the devil.

He could have called legions of angels to come and rescue him from that death, but he did not. Point number two, the outcast of Samaritans. We're going to go back to verse 7 and read to verse 9. Verse 7 of our chapter.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to him, how do you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, being a Samaritan woman?

For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. So as Jesus and his disciples were going to Galilee, they passed through Samaria. Samaria was the shortest route. Remember, I told you this earlier, it was the shortest route from Judah to Galilee.

But when it says that he had to, in verse 4, this could be speaking about God's providence. So look back at verse 4. And he had to pass through Samaria. So this could be speaking about, you know, he had to, meaning that it was the shortest distance from Judea to Galilee.

But he could have been like, well, I don't want to pass through Samaria. So he could have took the long way around and crossed over the river of Jordan twice. So in one sense, he didn't have to pass through Samaria because he could have walked around Samaria.

But the text says that he had to pass through Samaria. And so look with me at chapter 9 of John's Gospel. We're going to read verses 1 through 5. We're not going to deal with this text. We're just going to see what it has to say about providence.

Chapter 9, 1 through 5. As he passed by, he saw, speaking of Jesus, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

Jesus answered, neither this man nor his parents sinned. But this was so that the works of God might be manifested in him. Listen to verse 4. We must work the works of God, of him, excuse me, we must work the works of him who sent me as long as it is day.

Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. I want to look back at verse 4. He says, we must work, notice the must, we must work the works of him who sent me.

Jesus is telling us that he has a purpose of being where he is at that point in time. Jesus sees the Samaritan woman coming in the heat of the day to draw water. Now, it's custom at this time that men would work the hard laborious jobs, right?

But women would draw the water for the families. But normally, this was done in the cool of the day, the cool of the morning, actually. Twelve o 'clock noon, the heat of the day is not a good time to be going to get water.

Now, what I want to point out here is, I want to point out three things that this Samaritan woman has against her. Three things. First, she is a woman in ancient Palestine. The second, she is a wayward woman.

The third is, she is a Samaritan woman. So, we're going to walk through and see how these three things are against her. I believe him having to go through Samaria has to do with this particular woman having a divine appointment.

He had to for this purpose of witnessing to this woman. Again, there are other ways to go around Galilee. But at this time, in this culture, men did not speak to women in public. So, if you saw a man sees a woman in public, he cannot speak to her.

As a matter of fact, religious Jews did not speak to their wives or their female daughters in public. I know some men are thinking, that sounds pretty good. Don't be that man, okay? Don't be that guy.

But think about it. Men were not supposed to speak with women. Religious Jews did not speak to their wives or their female children in public. So, she may have been thrown off by Jesus being a Jew, asking her for water.

So, when it comes to verse 9, we really need to have to interpret her response. Is her response here arrogant? Right? Because the Jews considered that, you know, the Jews really didn't like the Samaritans.

Is she speaking in such a way where she's just like, get away from me. Or is she speaking in humility when she says, when she says in verse 9, think about it. Is she saying, how do you, being a Jew, ask me for water, right?

Like, is she saying it in a smart, aleck way? Or is she being humble and she's saying, how do you, being a Jew, ask for a drink of water from me, a Samaritan woman? That's how I'm reading the text, right?

I mean, it's not just a man speaking to her, but it's a Jewish man who is a rabbi. Right? He would have looked like a rabbi. And he is speaking to her when her own, more likely her own husband, or her own boyfriend, or just the people in her community don't speak to her.

But also, she was a wayward woman. Look at verse, just kind of hint back why I said husband or boyfriend. Look back at verse, look at 16 and 18, 16 through 18. And he said to her, go call your husband and come back here.

The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you have correctly said, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.

So this, her being wayward, could be the information we need to understand why she's drawing water in the heat of the day by herself. She could have been a woman that was looked down on by her peers, by other women, for having so many husbands and living with a guy unmarried.

And in her shame and in her guilt, she travels alone to get water for her home. To top it off, with all the things that she has against her at this time, her being a woman, her having many husbands, and her also being a Samaritan, that was against her.

She was a Samaritan. She was looked down on. Look back at the text at the end of verse 9. It says, for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Samaritans were half-breeds. I know it's probably not something you should say these days, right?

In some way, I think we all are, right? We all have some kind of a mixed ethnicity about us. This time, it was really, really, really looked down on by the Jews. She was half-Jew and she was half-Gentile.

In the times of the kings, the nation of Israel was together under Saul, David, and Solomon. Because of Solomon's sins, the nations were torn from the house of David under Solomon's son, Rehoboam. Rehoboam was given the southern tribes, which is known as Judah, and Jeroboam, who was an overseer of Solomon, was given the northern tribes, which were known as Israel.

The northern tribes, known as Israel, rejected the covenant that God cut with them and began to make statues and worship, and they also made for themselves the image of Moloch. And they worshiped the host of heavens, speaking of false gods, and they served Baal instead of the one true God.

And speaking of this Moloch image, they provoked God to anger by making their sons and daughters pass through the fire of Moloch. So we have in our culture today abortions, right, where women go and have abortions, killing their unborn children.

At this time, they were taking their born children and making them pass through the fire of Moloch. It was this image of this beast, this cowly beast, whose belly was hollow, where they would put fire into his belly, and he would have his arms and his hands sticking out, and they would set this statue on fire, and it would heat up, and they would lay their child in the arms of the Moloch, and their child would burn and die.

This is what Israel was doing in a way of practicing division and omens. They sowed themselves to the evil that was against Yahweh in Yahweh's sight, that everything that they were doing were evil. God, being angry with Israel, removes them from his presence.

And from there, we see that the Assyrians brought them into the land of Syria, and this took place in 722 B .C. So at this time, Jesus, at the time when Jesus is speaking with this Samaritan woman, at the time of Jesus, the Samaritans, they were half-Breeze.

They were half-Jews. Speaking of these Jews, these Israel, the northern tribes who came and lived there among other Gentiles, and they began to mingle in marriage and have children. So a Samaritan is someone that was a part of that mingling and marrying and having children.

And the Jews would have considered the Samaritans a unclean people. And religious Jews did not enter the town of Samaria to avoid defilements. They would travel the long way around, crossing over the River of Jordan twice.

And as we transition, because of this divine appointment this woman had with Jesus, Jesus passed through Samaria. Point number three, the divinity of Jesus Christ. We see this in chapter 4, verses 10 through 14.

We'll first just read verse 10. Jesus answered her, I mean, Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

Question, what is the gift of God? Answer, eternal life, faith, and the Holy Spirit. That's the gift of God. We're going to look at these three things. If you would turn to your copy of the scriptures to Romans chapter 6, look at verse 23, Romans 6, 23.

Paul speaking, for the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ, our Lord. So what is the gift of God? Eternal life. Ephesians chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2, look at verse 8.

Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourself, speaking of faith, it is the gift of God. So what is the gift of God? So far we see it's eternal life and faith.

All right, go to 2 Timothy chapter 1, 2 Timothy chapter 1, look at verse 6. For this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of hands. When you read the book of Acts, we see that through the laying on of hands, people were receiving the Holy Spirit.

I believe Paul is pointing back here, speaking of the Holy Spirit, but look at verse 7. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and self-discipline. So what is the gift of God?

Eternal life, faith, and the Holy Spirit. Now look back at verse 10 of our chapter. Jesus says to her, if you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

They were right by the well, Jacob's well. This would have been known to them as living water, right? Flowing water. We see this in the Didache. Speaking of baptism, say that it should be perfectly a stream of living water, right?

If you are in a place where you can go out and there's running water, do it there, right? But then it gives you other options, right? The final option is if there's no water at all, take three cups of water and pour it over their head in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So it gives us options, but the first option they say is to be in living water, which is a stream of water flowing, fresh water. They were over the, by the well of Jacob, right? This would have been known as living water.

A spring of water. But what is Jesus speaking about when he says the words, what, he's going to give living water. So the question is, what is living water? And the answer is Holy Spirit. And I'll prove that.

Turn in your Bibles to the seventh chapter of John. John chapter seven. We'll look at verse 37 through 39. Again, we're not going to deal with the context here. We're just going to read to see what it says.

We're going to walk through this passage and then deal with the context. Now on the last day, there was, excuse me. Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

He who believes in me, as the scriptures said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. Verse 39. But this he spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believe in him were going to receive, for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

So if you look back at our text, we will now read verse 10 all the way through 14. Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

Before we continue that read, the gift of God, eternal life, faith, Holy Spirit, living water, the Holy Spirit. For she said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water?

Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle? Jesus answered and said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst ever.

But the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. Notice verse 14. But whoever drinks of this water that I will give him will never thirst ever. You will have no desire for anything else.

Speaking of this water. But the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. Now, if I'm right concerning my interpretation, this seems to be the most underrated passage of scripture that speaks about the deity of Jesus Christ.

If the Holy Spirit is the living water, and he is, we saw the text say this, then Jesus is the fountain by which we get this water, specifically belief in him. So is Jesus greater than Jacob? If Jesus is God, you better believe that he's greater than Jacob.

Running fresh water was found at Jacob's well. But the Holy Spirit is found at the fountain of Jesus Christ. Look with me in Psalm 36. Psalm 36. Look at verses 7 through 9. The speaking of Yahweh. How precious is your loving kindness, O God.

And the sons of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They are satisfied from the riches of your house. And you give them to drink of the river of your delights. For with you is, listen, for with you, for with you is the fountain of life.

In your light, we see light. Go to Jeremiah chapter 2. Jeremiah chapter 2, we'll look at verse 13. Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 13. The Lord speaking says, for my people have done two evils. They have forsaken me.

So this is God speaking. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, to hew for themselves clusters, broken clusters that can hold no water. Jacob's well holds no water in comparison to the fountain of living water.

Continuing in Jeremiah, go to chapter 17. Proof that it's speaking of Jesus Christ. Chapter 17, verse 13. Listen to who he's speaking to. O Yahweh. Who's he speaking to? Yahweh. O Yahweh. The hope of Israel.

All who forsake you will be put to shame. And those who turn away on earth will be written down because they have forsaken the fountain of living water. Even Yahweh. Who did the men on earth forsake? He came to his own and his own did not receive him.

They forsook Yahweh. I believe this text, and we know this, right? In our own lives, we know our need for water, right? For so long in my life, I didn't drink a lot of water. I'm starting to pick up that habit and I feel so much better that I've been drinking plenty of water, right?

We know that we need water. We cannot survive without water. Without water, life as we know it would not exist. Life exists wherever there is water. All organisms, like animals and plants, use water, salty or fresh, hot or cold.

Plenty of water or almost no water at all. Water is needed. And there's this TikTok video going around about water. My wife showed it to me and I laughed because she doesn't drink a lot of water. I said, that's the difference between me and you, right?

It says that there's two kinds of people in this world. Those that are hydrated and those that are not. So me and my wife, right? There's two kinds of people in this world. Those that are hydrated and those that are not.

Which as I was preparing this, that come to my mind. I was like, this is good. I love this. The Jews were unwilling to come to Samaria so that they could avoid defilement. So they would walk around. The Jews at this time were in one sense Nazi when it came to the Samaritans.

They would have never shared land with the Samaritans, much less cups and plates. Jesus comes to Samaria willing to drink from the same bucket as a wayward woman. And to bring this home, there was a time in our history as Americans where we would not share a water fountain with our black brothers and sisters.

Because we saw them as defiled. I just want to bring that home to us. I don't want us to look back at those Jews then and say, how ignorant are they? When men in our own time have been ignorant. Not only was Jesus willing to drink from the same bucket of water, he was wanting to give to her the gift of God, which is eternal life, faith, and the Holy Spirit, which is living water.

As we transition, I want to read from the book of Luke, the gospel of Luke. Chapter five, Luke chapter five. We'll read verse 30 to 32. Luke chapter five, beginning in verse 30. And the Pharisees and the scribes begin grumbling at the disciples saying, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

So one of the worst things that you could be at this time was a tax collector and sinners, right? They thought of themselves as righteous. The word law, doing the law means righteous. Not doing the law means unrighteous, which would make you a sinner.

Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus answered and said to them, it is not those who are well that need a physician, but those who are sick have not come to call the righteous, the law keepers, but sinners, the law breakers to repentance.

The man Nicodemus, as we saw in chapter three, came seeking for Jesus. Jesus went seeking for the Samaritan woman. Nicodemus was well respected. This Samaritan woman was wayward and was looked down upon.

Nicodemus was a Jew. The Samaritan woman was part Gentile. Here we are given the full picture of John 3 .16. For God so loved the world, cosmos, not just Jews, red, yellow, black, or white, that those who believe in him have eternal life.

The Need of Humanity and the Call to Drink from Christ

Point number four, the need of humanity. We see this in verse 15. Verse 15, the woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I will not thirst nor come back here to draw. Now, the obvious thing to notice here is she doesn't understand.

She doesn't understand. He's speaking to her in earthly ways and she doesn't understand. Like he told Nicodemus, how will you understand if I speak to you in heavenly ways? She's still thinking that he's talking about the physical liquid water while Jesus is speaking to her about the spiritual, Holy Spirit, faith, and eternal life.

That those who don't have it don't realize their need for it and those who have it cannot live without it. If you have the Holy Spirit, if you have faith and you have eternal life and it was taken from you, you would thirst to death.

This conversation that Jesus is having with the Samaritan woman cannot be removed from the conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus. The main point of both conversations is spiritual. It's dealing with the spiritual.

And so often as human beings, we're focused on the physical. Even as Christians, we focus more on the physical when Christianity, Christ, and the invisible, listen, the invisible God of all eternity are a part of both the physical and the spiritual.

The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom. And the triune God of all eternity rules this kingdom of heaven in heaven. And if you, a physical being, are in Christ, you're in the kingdom, a spiritual kingdom being ruled by a king sitting on the throne of David in heaven.

This woman doesn't have it, she doesn't understand it, but by the grace of God, she wants it. And the next time I speak, we'll find out if she gets it. However, the great need of humanity is living water.

It's the Holy Spirit, it's eternal life, right? It's faith. The gift of God, the greatest need of humanity. Remember I said earlier that there's two kinds of people in this world, those who are hydrated and those who are not.

If you have been born again, meaning you have come to the fountain, Jesus Christ for living water of the Holy Spirit, listen, you are hydrated. And if you have not come to the fountain, listen to me, you are spiritually dehydrated.

You are dehydrated, and you need the water that only Jesus can give. The life that you could not live to please God, Jesus lived it for you. The death that you deserve to die, and trust me, I deserve to die for breaking God's law, Jesus died in our stead.

And so I say this, and I'm not trying to be punchy, take hold of the fountain. Drink from the spout by believing that Jesus is the Christ. I'm available to anyone who wants to talk, Pastor Cal is as well, so is our Deacon Josh.

Let's pray. Father, Lord, we're so grateful for what you have done to reconcile us to yourself. And in one way, what took place physically, we cannot comprehend it unless we look at the spiritual elements of it.

That Jesus being God came to keep the law so that we lawbreakers could be counted righteous. And because we are lawbreakers deserving of death, do this and live, Jesus takes our punishment, and he had to be fully human to take our punishment.

If that's not spiritual, I don't know what is. Father, bless us this day. Use us in this city. Right now, as I pray, Lord, I pray that the people here are preparing their hearts to partake in your supper, and Lord, I just ask that you bless it, and that you use it, and are being conformed to the image of Jesus.

His name we pray, amen.